Some Days You Just Have To Create Your Own Sunshine

Even with 58 posts since June and 10 drafts already written I still didn't write about everything we did this summer.  I couldn't possibly write about it all but I would be remiss if I didn't include some of the bigger things that we did.  We live all year long for those lazy warm summer days.  And on rainy fall days like today I don't want to forget about them.

One of the reasons we fell in love with lake living was because of our friends taking us to Lake Winnipesaukee.   Each year our friends invite us up for a day or two to enjoy their cottage on the lake.  The cottage has been in their family for 3 generations.  It looks like it is right out of On Golden Pond.  The walls are covered with needlepoint sayings and the shelves are lined with books my friend's grandparents read.  It is cozy and beautiful and so homey.  What an escape!  We have gone every year for the last three years.  We love it.  We don't always get the nicest weather.  But even on rainy days we have fun.  The kids go tubing, we go fishing, we swim out to the dock, barbecue, sit back drinking beers admiring the view.  We watch the sunset and the neighbors light off fireworks.  Every year is fun.  Every day is different.  They marvel at how much fun we have even in the rain.  Apparently some of their relatives aren't as much fun in the rain, they complain about the weather and mope indoors.  We make the best of every minute we have.    We go for long hikes or long boat rides.   Lake Winnipesaukee is HUGE compared to our little Crescent Lake.  Our friend has boated on the lake since he was a little boy and still needs charts to navigate the rocky waters.  We are overwhelmed by the boating there but luckily he is the man behind the wheel. We get to sit back and relax and enjoy the view and watch the grins on the girls faces as they get tossed around on the tube.  We enjoy admiring the variety of cottages and mansions from the water and exploring new places each time we visit.  We love kayaking there and going around little islands and into inlets.  At night we go to bed to the sound of the loons spooky calls and during the day we see them swimming protectively with their young.  We are so fortunate to have good friends that share this special place with us!  Even though we have our own little lake to go to now we hope they continue to invite us to visit.  We love sharing weekends with them. We all have a lot in common.  Love to relax, love to hike, love our dogs, and our kids and our beer and our laughs!  Good times!

Tubing fun!

Watching from the safety of the boat

The views are spectacular!

Jumping off the dock!

Discovering cliffs to jump off too!

A boat ride for ice-cream. 

And sight seeing  and driving the boat too.

Some wildlife

A loon with two chicks

More Tubing!

Lindsay takes a turn too!

A steamboat on the lake

We also had some fun adventures with family and friends. While weekends away and vacations are certainly fun, day trips to our favorite spots are what make up our summer bucket list.  We have some places we visit every summer. Others we like to do every few years.   I like to take the unscheduled days of summer and do day trips.  Once school starts and schedules begin it becomes harder and harder to fit them in and to visit with friends.  The longer summer days allow for long lazy days together with no worry about what time we need to get back.  We see friends from outside of town and visit with family and cousins.  Some of that visiting happened at the cottage this summer but some were to our favorite haunts around home.  Fruitlands concerts, Roller kingdom, Boston, the beach, Davis Farmland, the Cape Cod canal, Rockport.  Lots of fun memories came together to make a terrific summer!  You'll notice the sun wasn't always shining when we were at the beach or at the lake but we made our own sunshine and had a great time anyway.  I actually appreciated the cooler weather this Summer.  The heat can be exhausting and it takes a lot out of you! Here's a sneak peak at some of our Summer favorites.  Those that weren't already included in other posts already..

Fruitlands Concert

Roller Kingdom


Boston Duck Parade, Garden, Swan Boats & Frog Pond with cousins and Grandma

The Beach with Grandpies & Gammie and our cousins 

Rockport with besties

And their cousins and friends too!

A little afternoon mini golf 

And Davis Farmland Too! 

A community day in the park. 

And a trip to the beach and a ride down the Cape Cod canal.

Topped off by ice-cream of course!

All and all a pretty jam packed summer!  The girls are great at packing up and hitting the road.  They can handle long car rides now that they are older and they help with the packing and unpacking which makes the days easier for all of us!  Because a little bit of summer is what the whole year is about....